Sketching how I want the inside of the truck to look. Still a work in process.

Things I Wish I Would Have Known

1. That I would have to pay so much to title the truck. An expense I hadn't thought about. The price of the title is a percentage of what you paid for it and a processing fee.

2. That I would have known all the things wrong with the truck before I bought it. I normally had my mechanic write up a list of stuff wrong with the trucks and for some reason I didn't do it with the truck I bought. If I would have known the lock on the back door was broke, gas cap broke, rusted mirror, faulted mechanic piece. I would have negotiated for a lesser price. Now at the end of the day I was buying the truck regardless so I have no major regrets:)

3. The insurance company estimates the value of the truck. Helps you when figuring out what you should pay for truck. Prices varied so much with different trucks and basically who was selling them. Kelly blue book does not do commercial vehicles but I did see a company that does but I didn't' use them.

*This is it for now. I may add stuff as I learn and go along here

Things To Ask Yourself About Becoming A Trucker:)

This list is not in any particular order. I'm sure there are things that I haven't thought about that should be listed. Feel free to leave comments if there is something I didn't think about! That's what this blog is for to help each other.

1. Find a mechanic. This is really important as you will need one to look at the truck for you. I don't know anything about automobiles. I suggest that if you are searching out of your living area to find a mobile mechanic. Yes they have them! I actually lost out on two trucks because I couldn't find a mechanic to go look at the vehicles for me.

2. Where do you want to set up at and what type of events do you want to do? The sky's the limit and it all depends on your imagination and creativity.

3. Are you going to drive the truck?

4. What's your brand what do you want the mobile business to say about you?

5. What do you want your inside to look like?

6. What do you want the outside to look like?

7. How much do you want to spend, what's your budget?

8. Is this a short term or long term goal

Fashion Trucks In The News

Man when I say I love to see my ladies succeeding and being featured for their accomplishments and hard work in operating a mobile boutique! Yes I still obsessively Google and research mobile boutiques:) I came across this article today online. click here This is one of the ladies I 1st talked with that day a year ago when I went to there mobile boutique event. Check out the post "The Girls" She was extremely nice and had really cute items. She sells plus size clothing but I purchased this clutch from her. Please check her out and support. Curvychixchariot

 

Picture from webpage 

Quote

Believe in the vision.

 Oprah said, “You become what you believe.”

This is a powerful quote for me. Whatever you believe about yourself is what you will manifest in your life. Growing up I always felt like I wasn't smart and you know what I got mostly C's and some A's and B's. When I got to college I had a financial aid adviser (Tony Jones) who I will never forget challenge me. I was failing my 1st year at Junior college. He pretty much hinted that it was too much for me and maybe I couldn't handle it. I just had to prove him wrong. I think that was his game plan. I ended up acing all my classes with A's just to prove him wrong. Once I realized I could do it I did. I graduated with honors and continued to do well in school, something I never did in my early years because I didn't believe I could. I will always be grateful to Tony Jones as he helped change what I believed about myself. And yes ladies if you are wondering he was cute as I don't know what! lol.

"I believe there is no limit to anything I want to accomplish" -Musheerah

*what do you believe about yourself?*

Dreams Do Come True

I'm thankful for every minute of what I do. I get so much joy out of the little things. Like wrapping up purchases in tissue paper, folding them in pretty squares placing items in bag and handing them over to their new happy owner. I have no idea why I find so much joy in doing this. I love punching in the keys to ring up orders. It reminds me of when I used to play make believe as a child. I would always pretend I owned something. A law firm a store and I was always the boss! lol I love talking fashion with my customers as we are weighing in on how they can rock their new purchase. What's the latest trends they are or are not into. I get so excited when new merchandise comes in and now that I think about it I talk to the really cute pieces. "You are soooo cute and I love you!" The challenge is not keeping most of it for myself:) Since I've found my truck whenever I pass trucks I smile and say thank you, thank you. Thank you because I am blessed to be able to follow my dream. Gratitude that I've been able to stay strong thru this process. A secret I want to share. My biggest dream is to be able to give just as much as I get. If I'm blessed with $100 I want to be able to give $100 if I'm blessed with a million dollars I want to be able to give a million dollars. I know a financial advisor and some people would die if they read that. I don't know if it's possible but I want to try. Two things for sure I know about myself. I love fashion and I love giving. Both of them give me a high. I'm addicted to retail and giving. I love helping  people. All of my jobs involved helping people in some form whether it was customer service or being some type of trainer. This is the reason I started this blog. I want to be able to help others following their dreams. I want them to see the struggle is real but nothing that you can't get thru. The feelings of fear and doubt will be there and it doesn't mean you won't succeed. Mistakes will be made. I want others to know there will be up's and downs. If you are following a dream and reading this I want you to know dreams do come true and I am proof.

The look on my face when someone says I don't have to wrap what they bought...lol

My Baby

*SMILING* and exhaling. Man this journey. It was hard, long, stressful, exciting and faith testing. I looked at at least a dozen trucks.I finally settled on a Utilimaster, 1995 Chevy bread truck. I liked the shape, the length and the cleanliness of the inside the most. I also liked the fact that the guy I bought it from used it to make a living which made me feel comfortable that the truck was well maintained. It still feels unreal that I have finally found a truck. I'm so used to driving around and seeing other step vans and wishing I had one. Not anymore:) On really frustrating days I would pass 6 or 7 trucks in just a matter of hours. I would cry to my passenger normally my son. "ugh how come everyone has a truck!", "lord it's not like I'm trying to buy the White House just a truck" or my famous line. "I'm going to steal one I swear!" lol yeah I was pretty crazed about finding a truck. After a long week of yet again attempting to purchase a truck and having it fall through, later that night I cried myself to sleep. I've shed a few tears before in my search but more out of frustration than anything else. This particular night it was more. I was losing faith and hope. Maybe this was not for me. Maybe God was trying to tell me I was following the wrong dream. I felt so beat up and tired. I literally cried until I fell asleep. Yes it was pretty pitiful & bad. It wasn't one of those mad loud hysterically crying sessions that makes you want to fight. I just laid there and cried, it was a I can't do this anymore crying session. I didn't want to cry but it was like I had no choice.

With little motivation a few days later I decided to call this one truck I had seen on Craigslist before but I didn't recognize the area so decided not to pursue it originally. I set up a time since I was off the next day for veterans day to go take a look. The guy I talked to was pretty nice and very talkative. At this point I was just going thru the motions tho. Even now I don't even remember my train of thought because when I got up that morning I hadn't even tried to find someone to go with me and the truck was 1 hr and 20 mins away from me in an area I didn't know. I'm a planner and normally I would have planned the whole process. I ended up getting my mom to go with me. I started the trip with the thoughts of if I see 11(random number) trucks from now to reaching my destination then this truck was meant for me. Yes I'm silly. But you know what I saw over 11 trucks on my way there...lol

FEAR

Fear: to be afraid of (something or someone)
or expect or worry about (something bad or unpleasant)

I believe this is a very important topic. It's something many people feel and don't realize how much fear is behind their decisions and thoughts. During my journey I have struggled with my ever present fear. What if I can't do this, what if I go bankrupt with with doing this. What if I buy the wrong truck, hire the wrong people pay the wrong price. Yes my list goes on!:) I've learned over time that my fear holds me back from a lot of things. Honestly just from looking back on my life and talking with my friends I've learned this. I would say "O I can't do this because this is standing in the way" My good friend Dee would say "No Musha(what she fondly calls me) that's not a valid concern and here is the solution!" I realized I was letting little things stand in my way out of fear. It took me a year of thinking about the idea of doing a mobile boutique before I really got started on the process. I take action to follow my dreams but I will drag my feet out of FEAR. I now realize I will always have some type of fear and I've decided to use it to my advantage. It helps me analyze potential issues but I don't let those issues become roadblocks. And if the road block is really serious I make a game out of finding a detour. I tell myself. Let's see how smart and competent you are to figure out a solution and when I do I know it's going to be a good one because that's how life is. The outcome is always the right outcome planned for you. With this said, I've also learned to not question God. By questioning the outcome I'm questioning God's power. I have to trust that things happen for a reason and the way they are suppose to. Sooooo I'm learning to face my fears, acknowledge them, try to use them to my advantage and move on. Notice I said I'm Learning and I Try. It's something I still struggle with but I work hard at overcoming my fears. I refuse to let fear keep me back. The successful people you see have fear yes, but they don't let it stand in their way. So NEVER let fear keep you from doing anything. I truly believe anyone can do anything in this world, it's a matter of how much you believe in yourself. When you believe in yourself you can do amazing things. Give it a shot and see!

"Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity"

                                                                              - Will Smith

By The Dozen

so in my one year search for a truck I looked at quite a few of them. So many that I'm pretty sure that the truck I ended up buying was that I can't take this search anymore just give me anything truck. Thankfully so far it seems like the truck was the best truck for me. Let me explain what I mean by the best truck because a truck is a truck right... nah not in my crazy over researched mind. I've looked at lots and lots of pictures of mobile boutiques and read most of the stories behind them. Plus with my over critical mind I have tried to think of what I needed in a truck and why. So after looking at a truck with a roll up door I wondered why the ceiling seemed lower than the others. This is when I realized this particular truck roll up door took away from the height of the ceiling. Some of the roll up doors roll up to the ceiling with little or no space between the door and the ceiling. Some roll up and leave a lot of room between ceiling and door, which takes away from the height of the ceiling, this I didn't like. Also I wanted doors that would open as wide as possible so as to allow as much natural light as possible into the truck. I hate dark places. I later noticed that these type of trucks needed extra doors or something to hold the air or heat in. I also didn't want a too small truck 14 ft nor a too big truck 21 ft. I wanted one as cheap as I could find (cheap is no always good), I wanted one that didn't have a bunch of shelves in it that I would have to have removed, some ceilings were made out of this fiber glass material and I worried if I would be able to easily install an air condition on top of this material. I hope you understand my struggle now:) Honestly if I could have picked the truck I wanted I would have picked a Utz or Cintas truck. They were the right length and right doors. I later realized maybe I was over thinking it, the contractor could remove the shelves as I would need one anyway...right? RIGHT! In the end I decided that I was worrying about somethings that may not even matter. Maybe it was better to have smaller doors maybe a small one would be easier to drive. Finally I decided to just go with the next truck I found that I felt like I would be comfortable driving and that would be in good condition. Here are some pictures of all the trucks I looked at and then finally pictures of my baby(typing this last part with a smile on my face)